


Tents and Cuddly Cats

by SKayLanphear



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Cuddles, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Identity Reveal, Reveal, Romance, Sharing A Tent, Sleep talking, accidental reveal, basically bed sharing, the old "we have to share a bed? Oh no!" trope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2018-09-17 11:24:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9321341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SKayLanphear/pseuds/SKayLanphear
Summary: When Marinette and her friends go on a camping trip together, Alya hatches a plan to get her and Adrien to share the same tent. The idea of sleeping beside her crush has Marinette beyond anxious, but even her nerves can’t predict the secrets intent on unravelling in the late hours of the night.THIS WORK IS ON INDEFINITE HIATUS.





	1. Chapter 1

"Are we almost _there_?" Nino griped, huffing and puffing as he followed Alya up over a hill. He resituated his bag on his shoulders for the millionth time, sighing when his girlfriend glared back at him.

"Just a little further," she replied—the same response she'd been giving for the last twenty minutes.

Nino groaned.

Smiling, Marinette giggled before shyly turning her head over her shoulder to look at Adrien. He was the last of their group and holding up the rear—mostly because he kept getting distracted and wandering off into the woods before having to run to catch up. Nino joked that it was like watching a cat let out of the house for the first time, which Adrien had rolled his eyes at. But Marinette couldn't completely disagree. It was cute, actually, seeing him get distracted by small things like cool looking boulders and oddly shaped trees.

Were they being honest, both Alya and Marinette were surprised Adrien had even been allowed to go. Or so they had been until Nino and Adrien had revealed the truth of the situation. As far as Adrien's father knew, he was simply spending a long weekend at Nino's house, a situation that had nearly fallen through on its own. Turned out no one at the Agreste house even knew Adrien was out in the "wilderness," that he'd lied (by omission or not irrelevant) shocking Marinette.

She never would have expected it of him, only to then hear him defend his actions by saying that "what his father didn't know couldn't hurt him." Granted, she didn't fault him for trying to escape the clutches of his constrained lifestyle, but that didn't make his attitude any less surprising.

No matter, though. He was there with them—with _her_ —and that was all that mattered.

"It's just around this bend," Alya shouted back when Nino released another groan.

They were headed to the campsite that Alya's family—parents and siblings—had had set up for the past week. They weren't joining up with her family as most of them had already headed back to the city, but they were using the site for the last weekend before the Cesairs packed everything up.

They weren't alone in the woods. Alya's mother was staying in a cabin about three hours away, but they were enough on their own to relish in the adolescent independence.

"So, uh, Marinette." Adrien skipped up beside her, Marinette squeaking and unintentionally shying away. "Have you ever been camping before?"

"Um, w-well, a few times. With- With my parents." She couldn't bring herself to look up at him, instead staring at the path in front of her feet as she pulled at the straps of her pack.

"I've never gone camping before," he admitted, sounding excited. "Not in a tent or anything. Is it fun?"

"Uh, I-I mean, of course it's fun." She smiled awkwardly. "It's- It's mostly fun when- when you're with fun people." She bit the inside of her cheek.

"We should be fine then," he decided, smiling brightly.

Marinette nearly swooned. Instead, she tripped over an invisible rock and nearly fell on her face. Before she could topple completely, however, Adrien reached out and steadied her.

"Ha, thanks…" she said quietly, blushing bright enough to match the pink sky above them, the color a result of the setting sun.

"Okay!" Alya said loudly, turning to face them all. "We're 'finally' here!" Rolling her eyes, she twisted back around and hunkered beyond the bend in the path, looking none to impressed with her boyfriend's attitude as he practically dragged himself after.

The campsite itself was modest, but they were there to enjoy the outdoors, not admire it from behind a glass window. In the center was the fire pit, which looked very recently used. It was bordered by log benches that had been cut in half with the flat sides facing up for more comfortable seating. The two tents were respectively set up on either side, situated safely between trees. They were a comfortable distance apart—the fire pit between them—and looked to be made for two people each (which, in tent sizes, was quite crowded, but Alya had warned them). There were fold-up chairs spread around as well, a few coolers tucked in different nooks, and a side path led off to the outhouse hidden far enough away that they wouldn't be affected by the smell.

"The lake is down that way," Alya explained as she set her pack down beside one of the tents and gestured to another path. "It's getting late now, so I'll show that to you guys in the morning."

"Thank god," Nino exclaimed, dropping his own bag without a care for the contents before collapsing into one of the folding chairs. Alya was harassing him a few seconds later, pointing out the lack of fire and the state of the darkening sky. Adrien and Marinette listened with silent laughter, dropping their own packs and taking direction from Alya as to how to set up the camp.

By the time the sun was fully set, they had a good fire going and food pulled from the coolers for a late dinner. All the chairs were tucked up close, Marinette having trouble focusing on the hotdog she held above the flames with Adrien sitting right beside her.

Alya's knowing looks weren't exactly helping her to find composure either.

"Alright, alright, now you're just exaggerating," Adrien was saying, waving his own hotdog around on his skewer while Nino flicked a flippant hand is dismissal. "I do _not_ shower three times a day."

"Dude, there was literally an akuma coming after your dad and you were like, 'it's the model side, scrub-a-dub-dub.' You didn't come out until Ladybug came to get you." Nino cast his best friend a very flat look.

"I wasn't- It's not like that," Adrien defended lamely.

Part of Marinette wanted to say "yes, it was," seeing as she was Ladybug and she'd been the one to interrupt his bathing—a thought that had her blushing worse than she already was.

"Honestly, dude," Nino pushed, "akuma wants to attack your dad and you get in the shower. What else could it be 'like?'"

Shoulders slumping, Adrien opened his mouth as though he wanted to defend himself, but nothing came out. Which had both Nino and Alya laughing while Marinette tried to stifle a giggle.

"Since when were my bathing habits under scrutiny?" he muttered a moment later, sounding quite sour. "At least I'm clean."

"You're not going to have any clean showers while you're out here," Alya noted, winking. "Hope your model habits can handle it."

"I'll be fine," Adrien said through gritted teeth, which only had his friends laughing yet again.

"We'll see," Alya continued to tease. "You don't really seem like the outdoorsy type, after all."

Adrien glared, pooching his lips as he did. "I'm plenty outdoorsy."

Even Marinette had to share in the skeptical looks tossed around the group.

"You don't- You don't even know!" Adrien continued to try and defend.

"Don't pick on him too much," Marinette cut in, unable to look at Adrien even as she talked about him. "He's already burning his hotdog—he probably can't take much more roasting."

As if startled by her observation, Adrien yanked his skewer from the fire, groaning when he saw the state of his charred meal. Once more the others laughed, continuing to rib Adrien for a few minutes longer until, somehow, attention got turned on Alya instead.

It wasn't until near midnight that they were finally drowsy enough to view sleep as a viable option. On top of staying up late, they'd also spent a lot of energy hiking to the campsite, which left all in a droopy state once their energy stores wore low.

"I'll set up our sleeping bags," Marinette volunteered after a yawn, her statement clearly directed at Alya.

Alya, who was about to become her least favorite best friend.

The two were standing outside one of the tents, Adrien and Nino still sitting at the fire throwing marshmallows at each other. "Actually, Nino and I were thinking we'd stay in the same tent. You know… because." She cast Marinette a suggestive smirk.

" _Oh_." The pieces didn't come together initially, Marinette about to share in her best friend's devious expression. But reality did catch up to her eventually. "Wait, what?" All the color drained from her face.

"We figured you and Adrien wouldn't mind," Alya continued. "Right, Adrien?"

He whipped around to look at them, therefore unable to defend against the marshmallow that bounced off his cheek. "Hm, what?"

"That you and Marinette wouldn't mind sharing a tent, so Nino and I could share one."

Adrien blinked, taking in the information with far less horror (seemingly) than Marinette had. "Uh… alright." His gaze flicked to Marinette, who had yet to recover. "I mean, only if that's okay with Marinette."

Was she okay with it? Sharing a tent with Adrien? She should have seen the scheme coming, but she'd been too naïve and caught up in trying to speak coherently around her crush to consider such treachery. No doubt Alya thought she was doing a favor, but Marinette was hardly capable of getting out a full sentence around Adrien, let alone anything else.

This was going to be a disaster. Oh god, what if she did something embarrassing while she slept and Adrien noticed and, oh god, he'd never forget and she'd never live it down! What if she kicked him? Or said something? Or- or- or- _Something even more mortifying_?!

She wasn't ready for this! _She wasn't ready_!

"Marinette?" Adrien asked.

She squeaked. "It's fine!"

"Awesome!" Alya slapped her hard on the back. "Nino and I really appreciate it." Taking her bedroll from Marinette's hands—because she'd had both—Alya then ducked inside her chosen tent. Which left Marinette to look grimly at the one on the other side of the fire.

Refusing to catch Adrien's eye, and hoping her blush wasn't as obvious as it felt, she dashed across the campsite to their tent and quickly ducked inside. Ignoring the shrieks bouncing between her thoughts, she put her attention on unrolling her sleeping bag and trying to view the situation as rationally as possible.

It wasn't that big of a deal, after all. Not like anything was going to _happen_. They'd just be sleeping close to one another, separated by their respective sleeping bags. Really, it wasn't so different than how close they sat in class.

Yeah, that was a good way to look at it. No different. Except that they'd be alone. And sleeping. And… _alone_.

"Marinette?" Gasping, she jumped before whipping around. Holding the flap open with his bedroll under his arm was Adrien, frowning as he looked down at where she was crouched atop her own. She'd likely been spending far too much effort on smoothing it out to be normal.

"Heh, sorry," she said without thinking. "I was just, um, you know, getting, uh… anyway." She looked to the side while Adrien shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

"Are you sure you're okay with this? Because if you're not, I'm sure Nino and Alya-"

"No! It's- It's fine," she assured. "I don't want to ruin their… fun. And, um, bedsides, I'm fine. Really."

Adrien's frown deepened. "You don't seem fine."

"I am!" Why was she so obvious? "I'm not… worried or anything. Not that there's anything to be worried about. Um, just, anyway. It's fine. Don't worry about me. I'm just… you know…" She sighed. "Me."

Adrien still didn't look convinced. "Are you sure? I could even sleep outside, if you want."

Did she really look so terrified that he felt the need to suggest such a thing?

Beginning to feel guilty, Marinette—not for the first time—cursed her inability to control herself around him. He didn't deserve to feel bad because she couldn't get her nerves under control.

"It really is f-fine," she managed to get out, doing her best to stay calm. "I don't mind, Adrien. I'm just… Please don't worry about it."

Though he hardly looked comfortable himself, he finally nodded and entered the tent. Silently, he crouched down beside her and began to situate his bedroll, while Marinette pulled her knees up to her chest and refused to look at him. Part of it was to save herself any embarrassing slipups, but also because she was too ashamed of her own behavior to dare any interaction.

She hoped Adrien didn't think she was, what, afraid of him? She didn't think he'd do anything and, well, she wasn't afraid of anyone besides. The whole situation was her own stupid fault.

Ignoring the way her stomach dropped, she silently left the tent, grabbed her bag, and went to the outhouse to change. Nose plugged, she swiftly pulled on her night clothes before dashing back down to the campsite. Adrien and Nino were once more together—looked to be going through their own bags—so Marinette took advantage of the opportunity and snuck back into the tent. Slipping into her sleeping bag, she pulled it up over her head and made sure to face away from where Adrien would be.

A few minutes later, the glow from the fire went out and Adrien was toeing his way in beside her. The shuffling of his sleeping bag was akin to nails on a chalkboard in Marinette's ears, keeping her tensely alert until he finally settled. And even then the sound of his light breathing and the weight of his presence so close was enough to keep her anxious. With how small the tent was, there was barely half a foot between their sleeping bags.

She didn't dare turn to face him.

No words were shared between them—no goodnights—and Marinette supposed that was her fault too.

Closing her eyes, she willed sleep to come and hoped she'd be able to smooth over any awkwardness the morning after—if that was even possible.

Her exhaustion kept her from wallowing too long in her depression, slumber a welcome reprieve that was, unfortunately, interrupted far earlier than she would have preferred. She wasn't jolted awake, as protagonists often are in stereotypical dramas, but rather dragged from her dreams by an insistent mumbling. And as Marinette was not a "morning person," being pull from sleep prematurely left her relatively irritated as well as intent on getting back to the rest she felt she deserved.

This left her in a state between true sleep and wakefulness, making confusion all the more possible, as well as probable.

Yet again, the mumbling tried to lure her into opening her eyes.

"The akuma went that way," the voice claimed, a statement which only irked Marinette further.

Stupid akumas. She was trying sleep!

"You're going the wrong way," was a statement a second later.

"I'm not going anywhere," she replied, snuggling further into her sleeping bag.

"It's getting away."

"I don't care, Chat. Be quiet." Because it was Chat that was mumbling to her, she realized. It didn't exactly make sense that he was there, but she really didn't care that much. She knew she was camping, but supposed Chat had found her in his attempts to get the akuma or something. The least he could do was wait until the morning to bother her, however.

Typical.

"It's got my popsicle, My Lady," he insisted.

What did Marinette care about Chat's popsicle?

She growled. "Be _quiet_."

"It's gonna melt."

And she was gonna lose it.

"Shut up!" she barked, barely turning toward him. Reaching out, she punched the closest thing she could find as hard as she could. Which resulted in a satisfying "oof" that told her she'd hit accurately. "I'm trying to sleep you stupid cat! I don't care about the akuma!"

Once more pulling her sleeping bag up over her head, she welcomed the drowsiness trying to creep back in. There was some shuffling beside her, but she was easily able to ignore it.

Until Chat had the audacity to clear his throat and whisper. "Sorry. I didn't realize I was talking."

Marinette wanted to strangle him. " _Please_ be quiet, Chat. Just… If you're gonna stay here, stop talking."

There was a slight pause. "Of course, Ladybug."

"Thank you." Satisfied he'd finally shut his mouth, Marinette eased herself once more into sleeping, hoping to get all the way to the morning before being awakened again.

She was not so lucky.

Even if her brain couldn't compute everything in its half-awake state, it somehow managed to remember that Chat had crashed her camping trip. Which meant he was the only one that could possibly be clinging to her a few hours later.

"Get off me," she mumbled, reaching back and pushing at the body that was snuggling up close to her own.

"But it's _cold_ ," he whined, his arms wrapping around her middle.

"Chat, I swear I'll kill you." She pushed on him again, but her efforts were to little avail. Probably because she was still too much asleep to put much effort into anything.

Her threat went unheeded. Instead, Chat only coiled himself more securely around her. And supposing the situation could be worse, Marinette decided to ignore it and go back to sleep as best she could.

What woke her up next, and more fully, was the morning sunlight filtering in through the fabric of the tent. On her back, she reached up and rubbed her eyes, not ready for the brightness and very, very slow to adapt.

She was uncomfortable, which was the first thing she registered as her eyes adjusted to the light. Of course, she knew she wasn't in her bed and had only a sleeping bag atop the dirt, which would explain some of the discomfort. The rest came from the weight laid out on her body from the neck down.

Chat Noir immediately popped into her head as the one to blame, which only dragged her morning further downhill than it already was. She loved her partner, really—he was one of her best friends—but she wasn't at all amused that he was, what, lying on top of her? Was that what it was?

What was he even doing there? How had he found her?

Finally able to see some—albeit blearily so—Marinette leaned her head up just a bit to look down, only to come face to face was a mop of blonde hair just below her chin. His head was lying heavily on her collar, nose pressed into her shirt. The rest of him, she could feel, was draped around her from the side, one arm wrapped around and tucked up under her shoulder while his leg stretched over her own and hooked beneath her knee.

He wasn't exactly light.

Head falling back against her pillow, Marinette closed her eyes and fanned some of her irritation, trying to gather herself enough to do something.

Part of her was still angry he'd somehow invaded her trip away with her friends. And then decided to conk out in _her_ tent, like that was okay. He should have brought his own tent! And how had he figured out her identity anyway?

What would her friends think when they woke up and realized they had an addition to their party? How would she explain it?

What would Adrien think?

What would _Adrien_ think?!

Finally startled into alertness, Marinette's eyes went wide as she turned her head quickly to look to the other side of the tent. Where Adrien was.

Or, rather, where he was supposed to be.

But… there was no one there.

Wait a minute…

Ignoring how her heartbeats grew abruptly louder, Marinette carefully sat up on her elbows, which of course jostled the boy using her as a body pillow. He rolled a bit to the side, still asleep as he burrowed his face into the sleeping bag that was haphazardly tangled with her own.

It was Adrien. Not Chat.

Oh god.

She wanted to panic, but he still had his arm wrapped around her body and his leg tangled with her own. Despite how her thoughts raced, she kept herself still and tried to figure out what, exactly, was going on.

She would have sworn with absolute certainty that it was Chat who was snuggled up with her, not… not _Adrien_.

No! Don't think about that! Focus!

"Oh no, oh no," she whispered. She _couldn't_ focus.

Beside her, Adrien pulled closer again, his nose curling in his sleep. "What time is it?" he mumbled out, yawning as he did, but failing to open his eyes.

"Uh…" What did she say? "It's… morning time."

"Morning time?" he grinned, barely cracking his eyes open before closing them again. "You're usually a little more precise than that."

Marinette could have sworn her entire world was crashing down around her. And maybe Adrien could feel it too. After a few seconds of him waking up, his whole body tensed before he abruptly sat up, wide-eyed, and caught her gaze with his own.

She could do nothing more than gape, their legs still tangled as the reality caught fire between them. So severe was it that Marinette thought she might suffocate with the silence.

Adrien watched her, she watched him, and neither of them said a single word.

"Are you two awake yet?!" It was Alya's voice that jolted them both violently back to their situation. Marinette jumped and cupped her hands over her mouth so as to prevent a shriek from escaping, while Adrien sat up straighter and held his hands out like he was preparing for the whole tent to be yanked out from under them.

"Guys?"

Right, they had to say something.

"We're awake!" Marinette managed to blurt out, startled yet again though this time by her own voice. "We'll be out in a minute."

"Well hurry up, it's almost eleven." Alya's footsteps echoed on the dirt as she walked away, the sound acting like an anchor for Marinette to latch on to.

Running away probably wasn't the best solution, but it was the only one she had at the moment.

"I'm gonna go get dressed," she said hastily. Hesitating for just a moment—her eyes still caught with Adrien's—she grabbed her bag from the corner and clumsily dove out of the tent. Nearly tripping over her own feet, she bumbled up into a jog and kept going until she reached the outhouse.

Ignoring the foul smell, she loitered some behind the building before falling to her knees in the grass. Bag toppling down in front of her, she slumped and did her best to process.

Yet, no matter how many times she ran the situation through her head, she couldn't make sense of any of it.


	2. Chapter 2

For a few moments, all Adrien could do was stare at the tent opening where Marinette had vanished like a puff of smoke, leaving him alone to deal with the world-shattering realization that he had never anticipated would come out of a camping trip. Part of him didn't want to believe it, because it all seemed so surreal. He'd been half-asleep—surely he couldn't trust that anything in the night had even happened.

Yet the bruise smarting on his side told a very different story.

"She can really punch," he muttered to himself as he lifted his shirt, the sight of the red mark that would likely be blue by the end of the day solidifying that he hadn't somehow dreamed the events during the night.

It was somewhat confusing still, but there was one fact that stood out in his mind—Marinette was Ladybug.

He had a hard time putting the pieces together, that was, how  _exactly_  he'd come to this conclusion, but whether the situation itself was blurry or not, the reality that Marinette was Ladybug was sinking more concretely into his brain with every passing second. Until he honestly couldn't imagine how it could be anyone else. To the point where he began to feel somewhat silly for not having noticed before. Ladybug and Marinette literally looked exactly alike.

But now what did he do? Based on how Marinette rushed out, she must remember too. She'd called him Chat, she'd punched him. The truth was just as much looming over her as it was him.

Which was relieving, really. Because it meant they could deal with this together. Ladybug and Chat Noir, unstoppable so long as they were a team.

Yeah, everything would be fine.

This was  _fine_.

"So are you gonna get dressed or what?" Plagg's voice jolted Adrien out of his thoughts, his shirt still pulled up where he'd been mindlessly rubbing at the spot where Marinette had punched him.

"Oh, uh, yeah, right, clothes." Fumbling for his bag, Adrien mindlessly pulled out his outfit for the day and began to slip it on, his thoughts continuously running in circles over the night before. Which resulted in him pulling his jeans on backward and trying to stuff his head through the arm hole of his t-shirt.

He did eventually manage to dress himself and was stumbling out the tent a few minutes later, tripping as he'd yet to tie his trainers. He didn't fall, but he'd waved his arms like an idiot, which had resulted in a few chuckles from Alya and Nino.

Smiling sheepishly, he tried his best to ignore the weight of Plagg in his pocket, as he now felt rather hyperaware of the kwami. As well as of the smooth metal of the ring on his finger.

Marinette wasn't anywhere to be seen, but as he plopped himself down in one of the folding chairs, she appeared abruptly from the path that led back to the outhouse.

The sight of her startled him more than it should, if only because he was suddenly struck by the realization that he was looking at Ladybug. Holding a bit too tightly to the armrests of his chair, he watched as she came upon the fire pit, where she stood for a second and looked between them all. The only chair that was open was the one beside Adrien.

Taking a deep breath, she smiled shortly before making her way over and taking a seat. She didn't look at him once while doing so, despite how Adrien watched her like a hawk.

Across the pit, Alya and Nino shared a look.

"So…" Alya started when the silence had stretched far, far too long. "You two sleep well last night?"

The question had Adrien whipping around to look at her, eyes wide. He didn't know what the little smirk that pulled at her lips could possibly mean, but he didn't like it.

"We- We slept fine," Marinette said a second later, voice rising to a somewhat higher octave.

Adrien cleared his throat and set his attention on the burned logs in front of of him. "Yeah it was fine."

"Fine?" Alya asked.

"Yup, it was super," Adrien replied, unconsciously rubbing at his bruise.

"Y-Yeah, it was, uh, it was great." Marinette managed a shaky smile.

"Uh huh…" Alya nodded, before sharing another look with Nino. "Well, Nino and I have already eaten and were gonna head down to the lake. So just meet us down there after you two get some breakfast, okay?" Getting to her feet, Alya winked once at Marinette as she passed, while Nino cast Adrien some sort of meaningful look. Though Adrien really had no idea what it could be referring to, nor did he particularly care.

The sound of Alya and Nino's footsteps disappearing behind them seemed to echo the heartbeats in Adrien's ears. Once again gripping the arms of the chair, he chewed the side of his cheek before daring to flick his gaze in Marinette's direction. She was sitting up straight, fingers tapping on her knees. Still, she refused to look at him.

Sitting back, Adrien clicked his tongue and hummed. "So…"

Marinette fidgeted, but still refused to catch his eye.

"About last night…" he started.

"It- It's not a big deal," Marinette interjected. "I'm not- I'm not upset or-or anything."

"Uh… good?" What did that mean?

"It happens, right?" she continued. "I mean, we were sharing the same tent, s-so it's not like there was a lot of space or anything like that. I'm really not upset or- or anything like… that." Reaching up, she tucked a few loose hairs behind her ears.

Adrien's gaze narrowed thoughtfully. "What are you talking about?" he asked slowly, honestly baffled by her words.

His question finally drew her gaze his way, as well as a deep flush across her cheeks. "Th-This morning," she stammered. "When we- You were-" She gestured vaguely to her chest on downward. "We woke up like- like-"

"Wait, what?" Adrien twitchingly shook his head. "That's not- I don't care about that." The fact that he'd woken up snuggled against Marinette was the least of his concerns given everything else that had happened. Not like they didn't get tangled up in similarly intimate fashions all the time.

"Oh… um…"

"I mean," he leveled his hands in a calming fashion, "I'm glad it doesn't bother you. I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable. But I'm not… I don't think that's what we need to talk about." He chuckled uneasily. He hadn't had any idea how this conversation would go, but this still seemed a bit out of left field.

Appearing rather awkwardly curious, Marinette visibly leaned away from him. Defensively. "What are  _you_  talking about?" she asked, her voice dropping from that frantic, nervous high pitch to her typical straightforward manner. How she spoke when she was dealing with class president problems, or Chloe. Or anything but when she was talking to him.

Her Ladybug voice, he realized.

"What do you mean, what am I talking about?" he asked. "What do you think I'm talking about?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said all too quickly.

"I… think you do."

"I can't read your mind, Adrien," she said, a bit of irritation coating her words. So unlike how Marinette spoke to him, but incredibly familiar nonetheless.

"You can't-" He smiled, if only because this whole conversation was utterly ridiculous. Because he didn't know what else to do. "You can't honestly tell me you don't remember."

"I guess I don't since I don't know what you're talking about," she snapped.

"Clearly you do, otherwise you wouldn't be so irritated," he dared to say.

She curled her lip. "Why are you being so obnoxious all of a sudden?"

" _I'm_  being obnoxious?" he asked. "You're the one acting like you don't remember!"

"I  _don't_  remember! I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Yes you do!" he said harshly. "I can tell!"

She cocked a skeptical brow.

"'Marinette' is always nice to me," he explained, smirking as he did. "And you're not being very nice at all anymore!"

She scoffed. "Because you're being  _annoying_  and  _weird!_  Nothing else happened last night."

"The bruise on my ribs, where you  _punched me_ , would beg to differ."

"That…" she started, pausing as though she had to search for the right words. "That was a  _dream_."

Adrien gaped. "Are you kidding? You've got to be kidding!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said stiffly. With a shrug and a stubborn look, she got to her feet before turning swiftly on her heel and marching around the chair. Adrien watched her for a moment, dumbstruck as she headed off toward the lake. The shock lasted only a few moments however, before he was on his feet and vaulting over the chair to catch up with her.

"Hey!" he yelled as he jogged to catch up. "Now wait a second. You can't just leave like there's nothing to talk about."

Growling, she spun around on him, causing him to jump as she jabbed a finger up toward his chin. "Listen, Adrien. I don't know what you think you heard or learned or whatever last night, but you better forget about it, okay?" She cast him a meaningful look, before turning and walking off again.

Her words hardly fazed him. "Are you threatening me?" he asked, unable to hold back laughing as he did.

"No, I'm just…" She sighed, yet again coming to a stop in the dirt path. "I'm just asking you to drop it, okay?" she said quietly. "Please." Without another word, she walked on. While Adrien was left standing helplessly behind her.

He didn't get it. Sure, they'd kept their identities secret because it was safer. Because it was dangerous if they revealed themselves. But what had happened the night before was an accident. In his opinion, there was little point in pretending it hadn't happened. Why would they? The cat was out of the bag, so to speak. No, it wasn't what either of them had intended, but going on as if it hadn't certainly wouldn't benefit either of them. Be it for better or worse, they could now  _talk_  to each other. They could  _plan_  together. Didn't they have a responsibility to make the most of the situation?

Besides… Adrien  _wanted_  to do all those things. He'd always realized why they couldn't, but that wasn't an obstacle any more. Didn't she want the same? They were friends, weren't they?

He didn't understand…

Feeling confused as well as hurt, Adrien dragged himself after her, hardly paying any attention at all to where he was going. The path led him inevitably to the lake, which was still and crisp in the cloudy morning. Out on the lake, he could see that Alya and Nino had already commandeered a small row boat and were nearly halfway out across the lake. While Marinette was on the shore, pushing another of the small boats into the water.

Adrien didn't know if the boats belonged to Alya's family, were public use, whatever. And frankly he didn't care. All he knew was that he wasn't about to let Marinette escape in one of them.

Jogging down after her, he caught her just as she was scrambling into the boat. He climbed in after her, shoes getting wet as a result of having to splash into the shore. As if it'd been her full intention on getting away from him, she groaned upon him joining her, before begrudgingly beginning to row them out onto the lake. She held the paddles with ease, not seeming the least bit bothered by the physical labor.

Leaning back, Adrien slumped and glared just a bit, but she was doing a fine job of acting like he wasn't even there. And did so for quite a while, before Adrien finally found the gumption to speak.

"I don't get why you're doing this," he said after a few minutes had passed.

"I'm not doing anything," she said through gritted teeth.

" _You_  know,  _I_  know, what else is there to hide?"

"You don't know anything," she said firmly.

"You can't just undo it by saying that!"

"Look!" Slamming the shafts of the oars on the edge of the boat, she huffed. "Whatever you heard me say, or thought you heard me say, it doesn't mean anything. I was dreaming and we say and do a lot of things in dreams that do not reflect reality, okay?" With a great heave of the oars, she surged them forward across the water.

"You can't somehow convince me it was a dream!" he rebuked and leaned forward. "I mean, part of what happened was a dream, but that's not the point! I was awake, okay? So can  _you_  just let go of this idea that- that we're somehow not going to acknowledge this?!"

"No, because we're never going to talk about this again!" she said fiercely.

Adrien honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why are you being like this? I thought we were friends?" Good friends. Partners.

Unless…

"We are friends, Adrien," she said, sounding tired as her shoulders slumped. Reaching up, she rubbed her temples in frustration. Which might have been reasonable in a normal situation, but as it were, she let go of the oars, which had apparently not been clipped into place properly.

Scrambling to grab them before they slid into the water, they both dove forward. But despite their clambering attempts, the oars plopped into the water. Reaching over the edge, Adrien leaned out over the water, trying to grab the left one as it floated away. But all he really ended up doing was tipping the boat.

Behind him, Marinette squawked before grabbing him by the rim of his jeans and yanking him back into the boat, which was rocking precariously back and forth.

On either side of them, the oars floated on out of reach.

"Great," Marinette muttered. Leaning her elbows on the edge of the boat, she smushed her cheeks between her hands and glared out at the water. "How are we supposed to get back to shore now?"

"You're the one who dropped them…" Adrien mumbled as he sat back on the other side of the boat.

She growled, but didn't bother defending herself.

Silently, Adrien watched her. They'd likely be stuck out in the water for a while, at least until Alya and Nino got close enough to help them out. Which meant he had plenty of time to interrogate Marinette, should he want to do so. Unless she jumped out and swam back to shore, but they were a bit too far out at that point for such to be safely feasible.

Yet he said nothing, still trying to make sense of her attitude. She clearly wanted to convince him that whatever had happened the night before hadn't happened at all, which didn't make any sense given what she also knew about him.

Unless he was making too grand of an assumption. They'd shared a few words, he knew that, but he couldn't remember exactly what those words had been. Was she… Was she under the impression that she'd given  _herself_  away, only? Did she not know…

Did she not realize he was Chat Noir?

The question kept him silent. If he knew she was Ladybug, but she didn't know he was Chat Noir, then that would explain her attitude. She was trying to cover her tracks with Adrien, whom she thought was merely a civilian.

That made things… a lot more complicated. Because did he say something? Did he expose his own identity? Was that what she'd want him to do?

Ugh, this whole thing was getting more and more convoluted by the second.

"So last night," he said, his voice causing her to jump. "You were just dreaming?"

As if pulled from her defensive attitude by the chance that he might actually be willing to see things her way, she turned toward him, all hostility fading from her expression.

"Do you regularly dream about… about Chat Noir?" he dared to ask.

His question had her cheeks flushing slightly. "No. You were the one mumbling about akumas—it's not my fault you confused me in my sleep."

Wait, she remembered that much detail? Yet she still didn't realize he was…

No. No way. She had to know. This was  _Ladybug_ —there was no way she was that daft. Unless she wasn't Ladybug. But then why was she being so defensive? This whole thing got more and more confusing by the minute. It'd be easy to clear up if they could just admit the truth, but if there was some kind of confusion between them—if Marinette  _wasn't_  Ladybug—then he couldn't reveal himself.

But she had to be Ladybug. Her voice, her appearance… Now that he'd seen the similarities, he couldn't unsee them.

She was Ladybug. She had to be… right?

Uncertain what else to say, Adrien slouched down and frowned, arms crossing over his chest. He watched her, not really caring that she knew full well he was watching her. Either he was Chat Noir dealing with a temperamental Ladybug, or he was Adrien dealing with a girl who he thought was Ladybug. His acute attention was justified.

Fidgeting, she pursed her lips and stared back out across the water.

They stayed like that for some time, saying nothing as their boat rocked aimlessly in the water. The waves splashed against the sides occasionally, but overall it was quiet aside from their breathing. At least forty-five minutes had passed in tense silence before Marinette stiffened. Following her gaze with his own, Adrien spotted Alya and Nino, who'd finally turned to row toward them.

"Hey!" Marinette yelled, waving her arms as she did. Adrien followed suit, even adding in a high pitched whistle that had Marinette jumping beside him.

"What are you two doing?" Nino yelled once his they were close enough to communicate.

"We lost our oars!" Adrien yelled back, which resulted in both Nino and Alya laughing loudly.

"Please help us!" Marinette begged, her hands clasping together beneath her chin. She sounded a little too desperate as far as Adrien was concerned.

"Help you?" Alya asked while tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure we should."

In front of her, Nino was chuckling, head shaking.

"Alya, no!" Marinette yelled.

"We're gonna head back to camp I think," she decided. "We'll come check on you two again later." She winked, as if this whole situation was some kind of game, before Nino was rowing them further away again.

"Nino!" Adrien called. But all his friend did was shrug.

"Ugh, seriously?!" Marinette yelled after them, while Adrien crouched down at the back of the boat and aimlessly tried to paddle at the water with his hand. He accomplished very little and so was left to whine miserably as he hung off the back of the boat, watching Nino and Alya become smaller and smaller as they headed toward the shore.

Once again silent, the two hung over their respective sides of the boat, no longer facing one another as they bobbed back and forth with the waves.

Some fifteen minutes later, a chilly wind blew in, dragging with it considerably darker clouds. After another ten minutes had passed, the rain came pouring down, drenching them both within seconds.

"Great. Just perfect," Marinette muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Better late than never, I guess, lol.


	3. Chapter 3

Marinette was panicking just a bit. And when she panicked, she tended to make stupid decisions. Amazingly, fighting akumas didn't send her into such a state. The thought of one her friends finding out her secret identity on the other hand, well, she didn't quite know what to do. It was a horrible situation, really, because someone knowing her identity put that person in danger. She'd been hoping that Adrien wouldn't remember, or that  _he'd_  assume it'd been a dream. And she definitely hadn't anticipated that he'd address it so directly, which was why she'd reacted so defensively.

Adrien wasn't weak in any definition of the word, but he was polite and pretty even-keeled. She hadn't expected he'd be so persistent, or suspicious. She'd reacted poorly, which she now regretted. Instead of continuing to pretend, she'd been so taken aback that she'd defaulted to trying to "Ladybug" her way out of it, that was, tell him what to do and assume he'd listen because she was Ladybug. But even after that, he'd continued to push.

There was… There was a bit more to it as well, she supposed. The bit she was still avidly trying to deny. The voice that whispered things she didn't want to consider could be true. That maybe the reason Adrien was being so pushy was because- because…

No, it couldn't be true. She'd made a mistake in her sleep, that was all. Adrien and Chat had similar voices, as it would turn out. That was all.

Okay, so it really wasn't all. They had the same hair color, the same build, similar features. She'd never thought much of it before, because she'd never thought it was possible. Adrien being Chat Noir? It was silly, because Chat was silly.

But Chat was also sincere, and good, and all the thigs Adrien was, just with a little less of the reserved politeness and a little more attitude.

No, she needed to stop thinking about it. The more she did, the more Chat and Adrien seemed to blur together in her thoughts. Which was, frankly, dangerous. It was bad enough Adrien suspected her of being Ladybug. She couldn't give in to the idea that he was Chat and actually admit the truth about herself. Because when it turned out that he wasn't, they'd be even worse off than they already were.

She could still recover this situation. Somehow, some way, she had to.

At the moment, however, it seemed she was nowhere near making anything better. Soaked down to the bone, she sat slumped over in the small boat while Adrien hung over the edge like a sack with his arm in the water. The rain didn't appear to be letting up anytime soon and was beginning to gather inside the boat. Add in the chill and Marinette knew they were going to have to do something soon.

There had to be some way to get back to shore…

Looking critically around the empty boat, as well as in the water nearby, Marinette tried to think of anything that would help. If only they could somehow find something to replace the oars.

"Adrien!" she said suddenly, standing as she did. "The seats!" Whipping around, she bent over and grabbed at the bare board that was used as a place to sit. She tugged at the edge some, even more thrilled when it wiggled in her hold. Widening her stance, she grit her teeth and with one hard pull, yanked the board from its fellows.

Which resulted in her stumbling backwards and nearly out of the boat, had Adrien not caught her by the shoulders.

"Ha! Good idea!" he said once she was balanced back on her feet. Turning toward his own seat, she gave it a similar tug and managed to pull the nails loose just as she had. Guess they should be thankful the boat was old.

Turning back toward her, he smiled as he held up his own makeshift oar, nail ends protruding dangerously from its surface.

And for a moment, Marinette was struck breathless. Not because the water had drenched them both so severely that Adrien's clothes clung dangerously close to his body, or because he was just so beautiful. No, it was his hair. Soaked and dripping, it'd completely lost its typical shape, instead flopping down along his cheeks and down his forehead. He'd split it, keeping it out of his eyes, but a chunk still hung down over the bridge of his nose. The sides were quite mangy around his ears.

It was usually so well kept that Marinette hadn't even realized how long the blonde locks were. Add in that wide, teethe smile that… that she couldn't remember ever seeing cross Adrien's face before. Even when he was happy, Adrien was reserved, and that showed in his expressions. His small smiles, so unlike Chat's careless grin.

A grin that was shining clear as day directly in front of her.

Yet her silent shock deflated it all as quickly as it'd come, Adrien's grin vanishing to be replaced with his typical, reserved demeanor—as if she'd watched him transform from Chat to Adrien right in front of her.

"Marinette?" he asked delicately, eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"Right! The seats!" she practically shouted, which clearly surprised him. Ignoring how heavily her heart beat in her chest, she swallowed back on her shock and instead crouched down in the middle of the boat. Refusing to so much as look at Adrien, she leaned over the right edge, sticking her board into the water.

It was close quarters as Adrien took up a position right beside her, their thighs brushing as he mimicked her actions over the left edge.

Without a word, Marinette began the tedious process of rowing. Adrien did the same beside her, the two of them syncing together effortlessly. Which only had Marinette's heart beating faster.

This couldn't be real. She couldn't be sitting right next to Chat Noir. Her partner, her trusted friend—he and Adrien couldn't possibly be the same person. That was just… too unreal.

Yet now the image of Chat and Adrien had fused completely in her head. Their voices really were exactly the same. They had the same figures, their mouths moved in exactly the same ways.

Adrien was…

No wonder he'd approached her as he had. If he'd realized she was Ladybug, then he'd likely assumed she'd done the same for him. Only for her to lash out defensively.

Yet, even so, she was still at a loss as far as what to do. Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir. Chat Noir was one of her best, most precious friends. She was best friends with Adrien Agreste? What did she do with that information? How did she approach him now, or even say?

Could she even be certain?

It didn't take them long to reach the shore, or so it seemed with Marinette's thoughts so frazzled. Soon Adrien was leaping out of the boat and dragging it up onto the beach, Marinette a little too slow in reacting to help.

The rain kept pouring, Marinette somewhat shaky—almost like she was outside her own body—as she dropped her board back into the boat and stood. Adrien was coming around to her side at the same time and held out his hand as she was about to step down.

Faltering for a moment, Marinette stared at his hand, so struck with familiarity that she felt almost as though she were in a memory. Flickering her gaze to his, she swallowed hard.

But he merely smiled—smiled in that soft, forgiving way Adrien was known for.

Taking his hand, she allowed him to help her onto the beach. She held his gaze, knowing she appeared dumbstruck, but unable to do much to recover.

"We're soaked already," Adrien said simply, still gently holding her fingers within his own, "but we should probably hurry back anyway, yeah?"

Finally allowing her own lips to form a small smile, Marinette nodded.

Flashing her another teethe grin, Adrien turned to head off toward the path that would lead them back to camp. She could feel his hold on her hand loosening, slipping away. But Chat, if he got her hand, always held on as long as possible. A joke it had seemed, until that night he'd confessed. The night she'd told him there was another boy and he'd gracefully accepted her rejection.

Another boy…

He was the other boy.

Just as the tips of his fingers were slipping away, Marinette moved forward and held tight. She didn't let him get away.

He paused, their arms outstretched between them as he turned his head over his shoulder to look at her. Curiosity tugged his brows together, a slight frown marring his lips.

But Marinette just smiled—it was all the apology she could manage in those moments.

Moving forward, she walked on ahead of him. She kept his hand firmly held within her own and pulled him along. Not that he needed much in the way of motivation. He was following within the moment, the two of them breaking into a jog as they headed up the path.

Getting out the rain their priority, their jog soon became a sprint and so the trip back to the camp took them only moments. They darted around the chairs and the fire pit as they entered, Marinette ignoring the way Alya and Nino chuckled from the safety of their own tent.

"Wait," Adrien said as they slid up outside their own tent. He'd pulled them both to an abrupt halt, Marinette having been intent on getting inside as soon as possible. "We're going to get the inside all wet."

Which was true. They were drenched. It was going to be uncomfortable enough in the tent—they didn't need to add their soaking clothes to the mix.

Finally dropping Adrien's hand, Marinette didn't even think to hesitate as she reached down for the hem of her shirt and tugged it up over her head. Adrien was doing much the same beside her, the chill hitting them both as their bare skin was exposed. Kicking off her shoes, Marinette peeled off her socks and lastly lost her jeans. Shivering, she quickly ducked into the tent while Adrien was still struggling to remove his pants.

It was somewhat dark in the tent due to the shadows, so Marinette had a difficult time locating her bag. It was only once Adrien had climbed in as well—closing the tent up behind him—that Marinette realized the mistake she'd made.

Her bag had been sitting near the entrance to their tent, which they'd left open.

"No…" she whined and slid across her sleeping bag toward it. Crouched on her knees, she picked it up, only for water to come dribbling off of it in hefty amounts.

Behind her, Adrien had fished out his own towel and was roughly rubbing his hair dry. He glanced up upon hearing Marinette's distress. And while this reminded Marinette that they were both sitting there in their wet underwear, she was more concerned with the fact that she had nothing dry to change into.

"Here, use this," Adrien said. He quickly patted himself down, as if to gather the worst of the water from his skin, before he held his towel out to her. "I've only got one. Sorry."

Thankful he had a towel at all, Marinette took it, facing away from him as she pulled her pigtails loose and began patting down her own hair. She could hear Adrien shuffling around behind her, the two of them so close that she could feel his body heat wafting against her skin. But she dared not turn around. Not when she could hear the telltale shuffle of fabric over skin.

She knew he was changing out of his wet boxer-briefs, and so tried to ignore the fact that, if only for a moment, Adrien was totally naked right behind her. She wasn't much better off, after all. Her pink panties and bra were so wet they likely didn't appear as if they were even there.

But she trusted that Adrien wouldn't take advantage. Chat would never do such a thing.

She'd dried the rest of her body and had wrapped the towel around her shoulders when Adrien spoke.

"Here, you can have these," he said. He held out a black t-shirt and another pair of briefs in the same moment, though he was very obviously not looking at her as he did.

"Thanks…" she said quietly, more than happy to take the offered articles.

With Adrien's back to her, she quickly shucked off her bra and panties before slipping on his shirt and pulling his briefs up around her hips. Ignoring as best she could the fact that she was  _wearing Adrien's underwear_ , she then plopped down on her sleeping bag and put her attention on continuing to dry her hair with his towel.

"You can look now," she said quietly.

In only his briefs, Adrien seemed to hesitate for a moment before he slowly scooched around. He didn't turn to her directly, instead facing the front of the tent with his legs crossed beneath him.

Neither of them said a word following, Marinette as much aware of the redness across his cheeks as she was the blush upon her own, even in the shadows. That they were stuck in such close quarters didn't help either. One wrong move and they'd be bumping into each other.

"This is turning into kind of a lame camping trip, huh," Adrien observed after a few moments. He sighed a second later, bare shoulders slumping as he stared at the tent flap. As if doing so would somehow encourage the rain to stop pounding down atop them.

"It's not been… what I expected," Marinette settled for muttering, setting the towel aside before beginning to run her fingers through her hair.

Adrien chuckled before taking a great breath. Stretching his legs out before him, he leaned back on his hands and stared up at the ceiling of the tent. "What are we gonna do all day?"

Caught admiring the wiry muscle of his bare chest, arms, legs—all of him—Marinette didn't answer right away. Instead, she cleared her throat before putting her gaze pointedly down toward her sleeping bag.

"Dunno," she said simply.

As if defeated, Adrien groaned before laying down completely. He tapped his fingers upon his bare chest, not seeming the least bit bothered by the fact that he was so underdressed. Marinette wasn't all that bothered either, truth be told. Not in the fashion that would warrant asking him to put on more clothes, anyway.

"Let's play a game," he said a few seconds later.

"What game?" Marinette asked, braiding her hair to one side in the same moment.

"Uh, let's see." He pooched his lips to the side in a rather exaggerated manner, which had Marinette smiling despite herself. "20 questions?"

She couldn't stop her eyes from rolling. "Of course. What else could you  _possibly_  want to play."

He chuckled. "I've got you trapped here now—no escaping."

Huffing, Marinette leaned on her hand, angling herself toward him. "What could you possibly ask me that you don't already know at this point?"

"Plenty of things!" He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "What's your favorite color?"

"Pink."

"Yeah, you're right, I knew that. How about…"

"Hey, no, it's my turn now," she cut in. "Not my fault you wasted your question." Ignoring how he scoffed, she looked to the side and hummed in contemplation. "How do you feel about… hamsters?"

"Hamsters?" he asked. "Uh… they're okay I guess. Don't they make a really loud 'whooping' noise?"

Marinette was not impressed. "That's guinea pigs, not hamsters."

"Oh, well…" He shrugged. "I don't know much about those kinds of animals."

"This is not going well," Marinette decided.

"What? How? Because I don't care about hamsters? Sorry they're definitely not the best pet someone could have."

Marinette curled her nose in annoyance. "Better than cats."

"Okay, now that's just rude."

"Next question!"

"Why don't you like cats?"

Marinette groaned. "I don't have a problem with cats. Dogs and hamsters are just better."

"You're so cruel."

She moved on. "Why do you always smell like cheese?" She could infer perfectly well at that point why he always smelled like cheese—she just wanted to bother him.

"Now you're just being mean on purpose." He pouted.

"Fine, fine, I'll think of another one." Clicking her tongue thoughtfully, she tapped her fingers on her sleeping bag and decided to give him an easy one. "What's your favorite color?"

"Yellow."

"Huh, not what I expected."

"You had an expectation?"

"I  _always_  have an expectation."

Adrien raised his eyebrows skeptically, but didn't comment further. "Hmm…" He took far too long thinking of his next question, which earned him an annoyed look from Marinette. "I'm just trying to think of a good one!"

"Just ask the first thing that pops into your head."

He sputtered a laugh. "You don't want me to do that."

"Sure I do. Just ask. Not like there's anything left to hide."

Her reasoning left him frowning, their gazes finally meeting as he stared up at her with a very obvious degree of uncertainty.

"Just  _ask_!" she pressed.

His frown deepened. "No, it's a bad idea. I'll think of something else."

"Adrien, it's fine! Whatever it is, I promise it's fine."

He still didn't appear wholly convinced. Sitting up, he crossed his legs again and tapped anxiously on his ankles. He looked up at her a few times, as if still considering, before ultimately giving in to his own curiosity.

"Who, uh…" He pooched his lips to the side again. "Who's the boy you have a crush on?"

Leaning back, Marinette blinked in surprise.

"You said there was some other boy, right?" he asked quietly, cheeks pinking as he sunk a little deeper into his own shoulders. "I mean, I probably know him, right? I'm just curious…"

The question was kind of like being slapped in the face, despite the fact that Marinette knew that hadn't been his intention. She was abruptly dropped back into that night, acutely aware of the fact that she'd not only rejected Chat, but Adrien as well. She knew feeling guilty was pointless—at the time she'd thought she'd been honest with him. But now everything was all kinds of messed up and their stupid game was putting that quite well into perspective.

Adrien interpreted the long silence as discomfort on her part, which was reasonable, all things considered. "You know what, never mind," he said, laughing a bit awkwardly as he did. "I shouldn't have asked. Like I said, I'll think of another question."

But Marinette's inability to agree or disagree stalled their game, as well as Adrien's overt curiosity.

"It's Luka, isn't it?" he asked after a few seconds.

"Huh?"

"Luka. That's the guy, right?" He stared down at his hands in his lap. "I've seen the way you look at him."

A statement that irritated her more than anything, were she being totally honest. Because Adrien really was clueless. Of course, her having rejected him as Chat probably didn't help him any, but that was quite beside the point.

"It's not Luka," she finally said. "I mean, I do- I do like him. He's a really great guy and I probably would be interested in him if… if I didn't like someone else more."

"So you like… two other guys." Adrien huffed as though defeated.

"I'm allowed to think boys are cute and nice even if I have feelings for someone else," she defended lamely.

"I know, I'm not- Never mind. I shouldn't have asked. Let's just keep going." He flopped back down on the sleeping bag, though he didn't appear nearly as upbeat as he had previously. Which Marinette supposed was his own fault. He should have known better than to ask if he was so certain he wasn't going to like her answer. But Chat was kind of notorious for that kind of behavior, wasn't he?

"The other boy isn't Luka," she solidified, smiling some was she said it. Really, it was incredible she was as calm as she was given her track record with Adrien. But she'd never been shy around Chat and she certainly wasn't going to start up then. Maybe she'd refrained from telling him all kinds of things for their own safety, but at the end of the day, she trusted Chat with her life. She felt totally confident in being able to trust him with everything else too.

"You don't have to tell m-"

"It's you."

Her admission created a heavy weight within the tent, as if the simple statement echoed over and over again between them. Round and round their heads, as if impossible to go back to where it'd come from while simultaneously unable to be digested.

Adrien eventually leaned up, casting her a quizzical look as he did. "What?"

"I rejected Chat Noir because I have feelings for Adrien Agreste," she admitted, yet again amazed at how easy it was to do so. All because Adrien was actually Chat. Because she trusted him. Because he was her best friend. Because it was so easy to say such things when it was her  _very best friend_  that she was in love with.

Adrien just blinked at her, clearly stumped. They stayed quiet for some time, his eyebrows drawing closer and closer together while Marinette waited. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for, really, but Adrien eventually pursing his lips and flopping back down hadn't been it.

"Adrien…?"

"You like Adrien Agreste, but not Chat Noir," he said simply.

She gaped, his accusation—because that was exactly what it was—stabbing her right through the chest. "I like Chat Noir plenty!"

"Not enough, clearly."

She couldn't believe his hypocrisy. "Chat Noir is my partner and friend—he's more important to me than anyone and you're just being stubborn if you don't see that. Besides, you're not any better."

"Excuse me?"

"You have feelings for Ladybug, but all you ever saw me as was a friend. So don't get all high and mighty on  _me_." Slamming her hand against her chest, she glared for a few seconds before turning away. More irritated, and hurt, than she could really describe, she pulled open her sleeping bag, tucked herself in, and made a very obvious point of facing away from him as she folded herself up in the covers.

The heavy silence that followed was suffocating. Trapped beneath the pounding rain, they were completely victim to its bloated presence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if things are better or worse now, lol.

**Author's Note:**

> :D


End file.
